Posted February 24, 2026
Artists-in-Residence: Tony Oswald and Pisie Hochheim
As part of our ongoing interviews with Artists-in-Residence at the Burns, we caught up with filmmakers Tony Oswald and Pisie Hochheim to discuss their current work-in-progress. Tony and Pisie are currently working on their film Newville, which was awarded the JBFC Residency at the 2025 Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival’s New Visions Pitch Forum in the Czech Republic. They are staying at the Burns’ Artist Residence for two weeks this spring and returning in the summer to film their project in Newville, New York.
- How did this residency come about, and how did you learn about the Burns?
Tony and I have long been fans of the Burns since many filmmakers we admire have films that have been programmed at the Theater and have been Artists-in-Residence. But our residency was pure luck! In November of 2024 we applied for the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival’s New Visions Pitch Forum in the Czech Republic through AmDocs Film Festival. A year later, we found out we got into the forum three weeks before we were scheduled to pitch. And when we arrived, we were happy to find Burns Programmers Eric Hynes and Ian LoCascio there, offering a residency as a prize to one of the competing pitch teams. We were shocked to win not only this residency but also the jury prize for most promising US project. Given the caliber of the other projects we were up against, it was a great honor.
- Can you tell us a bit about the film you are working on during your residency?
Pisie: The film is about my mother, her nine siblings, and their relationship to their dilapidated childhood home in Newville, NY. Though no one lives there full time, my mother has stayed near enough to care for it which has become a lofty undertaking over the years. Lately pressure is mounting for them to make a choice about whether to keep or sell it, and we have asked them to return to their home to debate that decision. Her siblings are all older than 65 and have each moved to a different state. Their political beliefs, careers, and personalities are all so varied, which makes for a fascinating cast of characters and a kaleidoscope of perspectives that we see as a small window into a divided country.
- What are some of the most interesting things you’ve learned while working on your film?
Pisie: My family is so big and spread out, and the film has taken us from Uganda to Hawaii with many stops in between, including my uncle Al’s escort service in Reno and my aunt’s memory care facility in Oregon. In many instances I had never had a one-on-one conversation with these members of my family, so getting to know them and the world through their eyes has been endlessly gratifying. It has also challenged stories and notions I had about them and the communities they now belong to, far from their origins in Newville. It has brought new depth to my own feelings about where I come from, and as filmmakers who have always worked with our relatives, this film has allowed Tony and me to delve into the contrasts and tensions between individual identity and the roles we inhabit within our family.
- What do you want viewers to learn from your film?
We’re hopeful that through this microcosmic debate between siblings about a house, viewers are able to see themselves in relation not only to their own families but also the country at large. Which sibling do you most relate to? Who do you disagree with and why? We’ve been heartened when we show material to others to hear stories of childhood homes and sibling rivalries, of dramatic fallings out and reunions, and it makes us know this story—though small—is universal. If this film makes people see themselves, or consider their own hearts in relation to others, we will feel like we have made something worthwhile.
- If you had not had this opportunity, how would you go about completing your film project(s)?
We have been moving toward this project with patience, faith, and love for the last seven years, filming for 3-4 weeks a year whenever we can fit in the travel between our day jobs as editors. While we have been funding it mostly ourselves, this residency has allowed us to bolster our fundraising efforts. The focused time this residency has carved out for us has allowed us to see the project more clearly than we would have been able to while balancing all the other demands of life. And the proximity to the Burns’ theater has been the most inspiring and invigorating experience of all. We have ritualized our walk to the theater to see a different film at the end of every work day. These evenings are galvanizing, and the lessons of each film are finding their way into our edits and our writing. It’s such a gift.
- Which filmmakers or artists do you most admire/draw inspiration from?
We are inspired by filmmakers who are engaged in documentary as an art form, and who see film as a tool to ponder more than answer. Given his recent passing, Frederick Wiseman is an obvious touchstone for us in his focus on small communities, and his ability to observe and juxtapose the seemingly banal in ways that become profound and poetic. We love Allan King for the same reason. Agnès Varda for her whimsical free-spirited approach to matters both heavy and light. We look toward Robert Greene for his tendency to engage with the artifice of performance in documentary and what that says about the roles we inhabit in our everyday lives. We are lucky enough to be working with one of his longtime producers, Bennett Elliott, on this project. And our producer, Jonna McKone, has helped make Sundance Award-winning work for many contemporary peers that inspire us as well.
- Your stay with us is unique in that you are splitting it in two parts and will be returning in a few months to shoot your film. How will the residency support your shoot in the summer?
Though we have been shooting the film for seven years on and off, traveling to the home states of each sibling, we really see the heart of the film as the weeklong reunion of all ten siblings in their childhood home in Newville, NY. They haven’t returned there together in over 35 years, and we’ve asked them to come for a full week without their spouses or children. Because we know this isn’t something most families would ever elect to do on their own, we are thrilled to imagine the dynamics we will capture and what revelations will come from this. But we haven’t shot that part yet! So while we are at the Burns, we are excited to be prepping for our remaining shoots, working on fundraising materials, and we look forward to returning after we shoot the reunion to work through whatever knots we find in the future. We also plan to host a feedback screening at the Media Arts Lab once we have a rough cut to share!
- Is there anything else you’d like to add?
We are currently seeking support for Newville, so if you’d like to learn more or partner with us, please visit https://www.samepersonfilms.com or get in touch at production@samepersonfilms.com.
Pisie Hochheim is a filmmaker and editor in Nashville, TN. She edited the Peabody and Independent Spirit Award nominated HBO series NUCLEAR FAMILY by Ry Russo-Young which premiered at Telluride Film Festival. She has worked on projects by Lana Wilson, Liz Garbus, and Marnie Ellen Hertzler with credits across Hulu, Netflix, and HBO. Her short films, made with her partner Tony Oswald, have screened at film festivals around the world. And their short documentary CYCLES won Best Editing at Ouray International Film Festival and Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at New Hampshire Film Festival.
Tony Oswald is a filmmaker and editor with 18 years of experience in television and feature films. With his wife and creative partner Pisie Hochheim, he has directed four shorts, including the Vimeo Staff Pick HANDHELD. Their feature script BLIND HOG was selected for the New Orleans Film Festival’s South Pitch (2025). They developed and co-edited the upcoming documentary KINFOLK, executive produced by Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst. Their feature debut NEWVILLE won “Most Promising U.S. Project” and a Jacob Burns Film Center residency at Ji.hlava IDFF, and was featured in Variety.
